GeForce 9800 GT 512MB vs GeForce GTS 450 1GB

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTS 450 1GB, which uses a 40 nm design. nVidia has set the core frequency at 783 MHz. The GDDR5 memory is set to run at a frequency of 902 MHz on this specific card. It features 192 SPUs as well as 32 TAUs and 16 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 9800 GT 512MB		105 Watts
GeForce GTS 450 1GB		106 Watts
	Difference: 1 Watts (1%)

Memory Bandwidth

As far as performance goes, the GeForce GTS 450 1GB should theoretically be a little bit better than the GeForce 9800 GT 512MB in general. (explain)

GeForce GTS 450 1GB		57728 MB/sec
GeForce 9800 GT 512MB		57600 MB/sec
	Difference: 128 (0%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9800 GT 512MB is a lot (approximately 34%) better at anisotropic filtering than the GeForce GTS 450 1GB. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GT 512MB		33600 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTS 450 1GB		25056 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 8544 (34%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTS 450 1GB should be much (more or less 31%) better at FSAA than the GeForce 9800 GT 512MB, and will be capable of handling higher screen resolutions more effectively. (explain)

GeForce GTS 450 1GB		12528 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9800 GT 512MB		9600 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 2928 (31%)

Please note that the above 'benchmarks' are all just theoretical - the results were calculated based on the card's specifications, and real-world performance may (and probably will) vary at least a bit.

Price Comparison

Specifications

Memory Bandwidth: Memory bandwidth is the maximum amount of data (measured in megabytes per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface within a second. The number is worked out by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the bandwidth is, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that can be processed in one second. This is calculated by multiplying the total texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the graphics card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels that the graphics card could possibly record to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is calculated by multiplying the number of Raster Operations Pipelines by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel output rate also depends on many other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.